Later this month, the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

For many of those years--including the last six--this liberal political group has dominated Cambridge politics, offering a platform of "good government" and a slate of pro-rent control candidates for the city council and school board.

But events in the past two years have led many local; pundits to question the viability of the CCA.

After the 1993 municipal elections, Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who had been endorsed by the CCA, won a rare second consecutive term as mayor by earning the support of city councillors not endorsed by the organization.

And in perhaps the most significant blow to the organization, Massachusetts voters opted to end rent control in Cambridge last November, silencing the CCA's loudest rallying cry.

"It has been kind of floundering as an organization," former Cambridge Mayor Alice K. Wolf, who was endorsed by the CCA, said in February. "I think there's a certain amount of disarray now and I think that could have major implications for their politics. They've got to get their act together,"

Since April, however, the organization has gone through significant internal reform. Today, many politicians, both friends and foes of the CCA, believe the group will regain its strength--and perhaps become an even stronger, more unified organization.

New Blood

In early April, the CCA's nominating committee ousted the organization's president, R. Philip Dowds, replacing him with Cambridge port activist Geneva T. Malenfant.

Many CCA members say Dowds' combative personality was a significant factor in the CCA's loss of face over the past two years.

Robert Winters, who ran unsuccessfully for city council in 1993, says Dowds failed to keep in touch with many of the Organization's members.

"Since [I paid my CCA membership dues], I have gotten neither a newsletter, a phone call, nor a how-do-I-do" Winters says. "The organization has essentially been non-existent for the entire year."

And Howard Medwed, a former CCA vice president, says Dowds, While "an active, vigorous leader" of the CCA, made some enemies.

"I think there were some people who did not get along with Phil Dowds," Medwed says. "Most people within the CCA did,"

Local leaders say Malenfant, who has been known to follow a "grassroots" style of leadership, will likely improve the CCA significantly.

"Geneva works closely with all of the people that she's involved with in an organization," says Julia Gregory, a CCA vice president. "She's been associated with the CCA for a long time and has a good relationship with many CCA members both past and present and an extraordinarily wide network of associates across the city."

City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 calls Malenfant "the most experienced person who has ever assumed the presidency of the CCA."

"If anyone can bring some revitalization that is needed, she's the person that can do it," Duehay says. "During my conversations with her, I continually learn things."

Malenfant says she may succeed simply because she is not "exhausted." The new president says part of the organization's apparent decline may be attributed to the hard work the CCA spent working to save rent control after the passage of Question Nine.

"The whole effort in Cambridge to defeat Question Nine took a lot of energy and zapped a lot of people's strength," she says. "I think people were just done in by all of that energy expenditure."

Reorganization

With a new leader at the helm, the CCA then set about revising its organizational structure, Malenfant says.

The number of vice presidents was decreased from nine to two, and JoAnn Hoffman was appointed as interim executive director.

"We have a functional kind of arrangement," Malenfant says. "We're having an extremely good turnout at our board meetings."

Malenfant says she hopes to switch the power base of the CCA from its executive board to its working committees.

Interest among the CCA membership in committees is high, says John W. Gintell, the organization's treasurer.

"Last [week], we had the first meeting of our newly-formed educational committee," he says. "What was really exciting is that we had a bunch of people who were interested on a very warm night."

The CCA president says she has tried to attend every committee meeting to date in order to gauge the interests of the organization's members.

"It's good to know people," Malenfant says. "I always sort of learn something."

In addition, the CCA plans to go "on-line," Gintell says.

"Computerization allows us to keep track of interests and eventually skills [of members]," he says. "I'm a big e-mail and Internet enthusiast."

The Near Future

This summer, Malenfant and her new board must work to endorse a group of candidates for both Cambridge's city council and school committee.

Although he group endorsed a majority of the current representatives of both groups, signs point to a difficult election year for the CCA.

"Ken Reeves obviously feels that it's safe to run on his own merits, [and] so I don't know why [other city councillors] can't run on their own merits, seek out their own constituents and make a pitch on their positions and issues." one city official who spoke on condition of anonymity said in February.

Since the 1993 election, Reeves has frequently supported coucillors not affiliated with the CCA, and last week, CCA-endorsed incumbent Jonathan S. Myers announced he will not seek re-election.

"Having him not run means there's a seat to be filled," Duehay says. "I think that until we get full knowledge of the entire slate of the city council candidates, it's very hard to know how hard that makes it."

Malenfant says the most important part of the endorsement process is finding candidates who support a common platform.

The CCA platform will likely support school choice, parent participation in school issues and efforts to develop affordable housing within they city, Malenfant says.

"It's those kind of issues that we have historically stood for," she says.

A common platform is important because it outlines tangible goals for the city, Duehay says.

"The public will know that if they elect that group of people, they will work on the platform together," Duehay says. "If a group works toward those policies, they will have some change actually happening.'

At this point, it is unclear whether the CCA will endorse Reeves again, Malenfant says.

"Ken has to decide what he wants to do," she says. "We have to be fair."

Duehay says that although he speaks to Reeves regularly, he is unsure whether the mayor will seek a CCA endorsement.

"I've never heard [a CCA endorsement] was an interest of his," Duehay says. "But I've never heard that it isn't."

If the CCA chooses not to endorse Reeves, the organization may endorse only a minority of incumbent councillors, almost ensuring a loss of political clout, says Winters.

"Proportional representation also translates into perpetual re-election," he says. "Unless somebody actually steps down, it's very hard for other people to make a show of it."

Candidates who may be endorsed by the CCA include incumbents Reeves, Duehay, Kathleen L. Born and Katherine Triantafillou as well as challengers Henrietta Davis, a member of the Cambridge school committee, Edward N. Cyr, a former city councillor, and Lester P. Lee, Jr., campaign chair for the Save Our Communities Coalition, Malenfant says.

The Alliance

Another factor complicating this year's election is the potential strength of the Alliance for Change, a local political organization viewed by its members as a viable, non-politicized alternative to the CCA.

The Alliance advocates no political position, says its chair Edward J. O'Connell.

"The platform is found in the positions the candidates stake out," he says. O'Connell says the group's mission is "to try to end divisiveness and gridlock in City Hall" while engaging in "dialogue and consensus-building."

In the 1993 municipal election, three candidates endorsed by the alliance--Vice Mayor Sheila T. Russell, Michael A. Sullivan and Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.--won council seats. A fourth candidate endorsed by the Alliance, Anthony D. Galluccio, was appointed to the council last December to replace William H. Walsh, who was sentenced on federal bank fraud charges.

Alan Steinert Jr. '58, chair of the Alliance's candidate selection committee, says the alliance will be "a force to be reckoned with" in this year's elections.

"We believe the CCA has caused divisiveness among the people," Steinert says. "We would like to end that."

Steinert says he expects the Alliance will develop positions on various issues this year but will not require candidates to adhere to Alliance positions.

"Some of the candidates will take that and run with it and run hard," he says. "Some of the candidates won't regard it as significantly as some of the other candidates. What we want is a group of candidates that will work collegially and civilly."

Russell says she believes it is important for Alliance candidates to adhere to some type of platform.

"People want to know what we stand for," she says. "It is an important aspect to any group to state what they stand for."

Russell has a lot to gain if the Alliance candidates, previously bound together simply by the title "independents," earn a majority of seats on the council.

"It's may turn to be mayor," she says. "I'm going to actively campaign for it, as I'm the senior member of the so-called independents.'"

Duehay, who is endorsed by the CCA, says the Alliance is "indistinguishable" from the CCA on many issues.

But he says it is impractical to elect a citycouncil that will work to reach consensus on allissues, as the Alliance hopes to do.

"There are obvious times when differences haveto be highlighted," he says. "You can't just havepeople who will agree with the lowest commondenominator."

Predictions, Anyone?

Given the apparent fall and resurgence of theCCA as well as the efforts by the Alliance,candidates and observers are finding this year'smunicipal elections difficult to predict.

"From the outside looking in, it looks like allhas not been rosy with the CCA," Russell says."But I would never count them out as being afactor in the election."

But Duehay says be believes the CCA may notearn a majority of seats on either the schoolcommittee or the city council.

"I have some feeling that the CCA is going tohave a tough time winning this campaign," Duehaysays. "It could really blast out the followingcampaign."

The senior CCA councillor says that whilerecent signs indicate the CCA is gaining instrength, it will take time for the organizationto improve.

"All of the sudden it has begun to turnaround," Duehay says. "But the people who arethinking about becoming candidates for office forthe first time don't turn around in 30 days."

But Duehay qualifies his observations bysaying, "I've never been very good atpredictions."

Gintell says he does not know how the electionwill turn out, given the changes of the past year.

"I don't think Cambridge is going to go likethe rest of the country and start becomingconservative, but this is a very different year,"he says. "We have all these changes on thenational and state level."

And David L.K. Trumbull, chair of the RepubicanCity Committee, says says the CCA will havedifficulty recruiting voters to support itscandidates now that rent control no longer exists.

"A significant part of their voter vase wassingle issue-- pro rent control," Trumbull says."That just wont be there. Given that electionshave been pretty close, the CCA majority is prettyfragile."

Both friend and foe, however, say if anyone canright the CCA, Malenfant is that person.

She is "able to get unity among people and ableto work with people," says John R. Moot, alongtime CCA members. "It's a very good sign forthe CCA."

Even Russell praises Malenfant.

"I think their new president is a good leader,"Russell says. "She'll probably pull themtogether."

Sewell Chan contributed to the reporting ofthis story.